TRANSIT took note of the following article describing legal issues that will delay the approval of the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway.

Apparently the company that will build the expressway and has received ‘conditional approval’ from the Works Ministry and support from Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, has failed to get approval from the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya…in fact their plans have been rejected 3 times!

KiDEx Sdn Bhd may face a major setback in its plan to build its RM2.42 billion super-elevated highway in Selangor as it has not obtained approval from the city’s local council office.

The Malay Mail Online understands that the proposal for the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (KIDEX) was rejected on three occasions by the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MBPJ) as developers had failed to provide sufficient details on the project.

TRANSIT has gone on record with our objections to the Kinrara-Damansara expressway. Our reasoning, expressed here, focuses on the inherent efficiency of public transport as compared to elevated highways as well as the huge social and economic impacts of the highway.

But we always want to give you the opportunity to hear both sides of the story, so we present to you the following:

First, a podcast from BFM Radio in which the CEO comments on public transport. Second, an article in which the KiDEx CEO argues that the projection of 3.9 million cars on Malaysian roads by 2025 makes more highways necessary.

Finally we have comments from the CEO on our page, followed by our response.

TRANSIT took note of the following article describing changes to bus service in Johor Baru, with a new “no pick up” order for Jalan Wong Ah Fook, diversion of urban stage buses to Larkin Sentral, and a new free shuttle bus connecting the two areas.

JOHOR Baru City Council has come up with a solution to the the problem of traffic congestion in Jalan Wong Ah Fook, which it believes is caused by the long queue of stage buses waiting for passengers.

The council recently announced that effective May 1, all stage buses plying the northwest route, which is basically the Skudai corridor, may only drop off passengers by the road. They will not be allowed to pick up passengers.

TRANSIT took note of this news from Ipoh, where Ipoh City Council is looking to reorganize and improve its focus on public transport services. As is typical we see bluster and calls for enforcement but little about the structural problems within the public transport industry.

[Admin; TRANSIT has long objected to the proposed Kinrara Damansara Expressway, as you can see from this draft post which we created 2 years ago]

TRANSIT took note of the proposal to build an elevated expressway through the heart of Petaling Jaya.

TRANSIT opposes the expressway proposal and strongly recommends that the corridor be used to build a north-south rapid transit corridor, likely a monorail or LRT line. We expect that this would cost the same or less than the proposed expressway, occupy less visual space and obviously would not bring pollution on site.

Image showing the alignment of the Kinrara-Damansara expressway, proposed in Budget 2011.

As public transportation this corridor would connect with 4 public transport corridors (either existing/under construction)…the existing KTM Komuter line in PJ Old Town, the Kelana Jaya LRT Line at Taman Jaya, and the LRT extension in Kinrara and the MRT Line, both currently under construction. There is also the proposed Federal Highway Bus Rapid Transit corridor.

This has far greater connection potential than an expressway and will move 10 times as many people.

TRANSIT Says:

We see that cities across the world are in the process of taking down elevated expressways and improving their urban realms…while we in Malaysia are unfortunately looking at building more.

We have an opportunity here to build a lasting legacy for public transportation in Petaling Jaya…let’s not mess this up.

TRANSIT took note of the following interesting article, which describes Prasarana refusing to pay compensation to the residents of the Tong Weng Mansion in Brickfields, while agreeing to pay compensation to two other site owners in the area.

The compensation requests are in relation to the KL Monorail expansion project, which will extend the KL Monorail from the Tun Sambanthan station down to MidValley and to Old Klang Road on the other side of the Federal Highway.

Interestingly enough, all three compensation requests are in relation to properties that are illegally occupying government land – a situation that seems to occur more frequently than one might expect.

Project manager Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta announced that work started on the underground section of Jakarta’s first metro line on April 4.

Excavation began at Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle, where there will be an underground station. A guide wall is due to be completed within three months, which will allow a diaphragm wall to be built. The timescale for the completion of this and subsequent station works is four years.

In May the city authorities announced the winners of the tenders for the three underground civil works packages. Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Company and PT Hutama Karya is undertaking the work at Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle, whereas the other two packages are being carried out by a consortium of Shimizu, Obayashi, Wijaya Karya and Jaya Konstruksi.

Two of the three elevated civil works packages will be carried out by a Tokyu-WIKA consortium, with a consortium of Obayashi, Shimizu and Jaya Konstruksi responsible for the other.

Revenue operations on the 15·7 km line are planned to start in early 2018. An 8·1 km northern extension is planned as the second phase.